COACHING: Steve Hagen enters the 2000 season expecting much improved results as he begins his second year as Cal's offensive coordinator. The growing pains of combining a new system along with an extremely inexperienced personnel group was quite evident last fall as Hagen's charges struggled. However, the lessons learned and the game experience gained should pay off handsomely.

During his 15-year career, Hagen has built a reputation as a player's coach due to his positive approach to teaching and his high-energy style on the field.

Hagen began his coaching career with graduate assistant stints at Illinois and Kansas before landing his first fulltime assignment at Northern Arizona where he coached the receivers and tight ends from 1987-88. He then joined Lou Holtz's Notre Dame staff as a graduate assistant for two seasons. While with the Irish from 1989-90, he served as a receivers coach, working with Rocket Ismael.

He spent one year as quarterback coach at Kent State in '91, then came back west as the offensive coordinator and QB coach for Nevada under Chris Ault in 1992 and '93. His '92 Wolf Pack offense led the nation in total offense (569.1 ypg) and passing offense (397.5 ypg).

Hagen then moved with Jeff Horton to UNLV, serving in the same role, and again producing impressive offensive numbers. UNLV not only won the Big West title in 1994, but broke over 20 school offensive records during the '94 and '95 seasons under Hagen's direction.

Hagen then accepted an offer to become head coach at Wartburg College, a Division III school in Iowa. His team set seven school records and earned a No. 8 ranking in total offense while posting a 7-3 record in 1996.

He served as offensive coordinator, QB coach and recruiting coordinator at San Jose State in 1997 and '98. Among the highlights during his time with the Spartans was the school's first victory in nine years over Stanford and a pair of WAC Player of the Week Awards for his quarterbacks.

PLAYER: Hagen was a four-year letterman at Cal Lutheran from 1979-82. He earned NAIA All-America honors as a senior after catching 59 passes for 1050 yards. He signed a contract with the Boston Breakers of the USFL, but a knee injury in camp prematurely ended his career.

PERSONAL: Hagen, 39, was born Sept. 15, 1961. He received a degree in business management from Cal Lutheran. He and his wife, Amy, have three children, Nash, Hannah and Wil.